Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius
by Philip Lambert
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Book Summary Information
Author: Philip LambertEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-03-25
ISBN: 0826418775
Number of pages: 418
Publisher: Continuum
Book Reviews of Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius
Book Review: Fills an Important Niche
Summary: 5 Stars
In the early 70s, English music historian Wilfred Mellers wrote an important book on the Beatles' music, Twilight of the Gods, which explained in music theory terms what set their music apart. While the Beatles were unaware of the lofty nomenclature, their instincts led them to create sophisticated music that would even impress music theorists.
For decades, I wished he had written a similar book on Brian Wilson's music, but no one ever suggested it, or he never thought of doing that before his passing a couple of years ago. And perhaps he wasn't interested in their American rival.
This book is as close to filling that gap as we're likely to see. An informed, insightful analysis of Wilson's work, it goes far beyond the reverent fan writings and shows how innovative a writer he was, in the context of his contemporaries, while still grounded in the styles of his time.
For the author to have included every aspect of Brian Wilson's arrangements, production, and other alleged missing ingredients, would have resulted in a book a thousand pages long. Certainly, the spiritual aspect of his music would be either difficult or impossible to describe in such mechanical terms, and that is perhaps something best left to the listener to discover.
It is indeed not light, easy reading; had I personally chosen to become a composer, I would study this book with the accompanying recordings, piece by piece, to fully grasp what is being described, and perhaps a multimedia version of this book would be ground-breaking and revolutionary. It's not for everyone, but the increased understanding of a Brian Wilson song is what learning should be, fun and inspirational.
Despite whatever alleged shortcomings, this is an important work, and I for one am thankful for its existence.
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